05/20/2013

An online video that appeared to show teenage girls savagely beating younger pupils at a remote Siberian boarding school for orphans has sparked a criminal investigation and calls for public oversight over the government's opaque and widely criticized orphanage system.

A bribe that Vladimir Golubkov, head of Societe Generale's Russian unit Rosbank, allegedly received for easing the terms of a multimillion-dollar loan, came from rock musician and former lawmaker Andrei Kovalyov, Business FM radio reported Friday.

Russia's first public television channel began broadcasting on Sunday, with live broadcasts available on the channel's official website and also freely available to viewers of cable, satellite, or IP-TV.

An ambitious plan to make Russia one of the top 20 countries on the World Bank's ease of doing business rating by 2018 — up from last years ranking of 160th — may be at risk as midlevel bureaucrats slow execution on efforts to improve the life of entrepreneurs.